Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device, and more particularly, to a liquid crystal display device including a reinforcing frame.
Discussion of the Related Art
Recently, as the information society progresses, display devices processing and displaying a large amount of information have rapidly advanced and various flat panel displays (FPDs) have been developed. Specifically, the FPDs such as liquid crystal display (LCD) devices, plasma display panel (PDP) devices, organic light emitting diode (OLED) display devices and field emission display (FED) devices, which have superior characteristics such as thin profile, light weight and low power consumption, have replaced cathode ray tubes (CRT).
Among various FPDs, LCD devices, which have various advantages of high contrast ratio, displaying moving images and low power consumption, have been used in various fields such as notebooks, monitors and televisions. LCD devices take advantage of the optical anisotropy and polarization properties of liquid crystal molecules.
An LCD device includes a liquid crystal panel having two substrates facing each other, with a liquid crystal layer between the two substrates, and obtains difference in transmittance by changing an alignment direction of the liquid crystal molecules with an electric field in the liquid crystal panel.
A curved LCD device has been the subject of more recent research and development. A user may be immersed and feel comport watching more realistic images of the curved LCD device.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a curved liquid crystal display device according to the related art.
In FIG. 1, since a curved liquid crystal display (LCD) device 10 is a non-emissive type display device, it requires an additional light source to display an image with difference in transmittance. Accordingly, a backlight unit including a light source is disposed over a rear surface of a liquid crystal panel.
The backlight unit may be classified into a direct type and an edge type according to an arrangement structure of the light source. The direct type backlight unit has a structure in which a plurality of light sources are disposed under the liquid crystal panel, and the edge type backlight unit has a structure in which a single light source or a pair of light sources are disposed at a side or both sides of a light guide plate. The direct type backlight unit, which typically has a greater thickness as compared with the edge type backlight unit, may be used for an LCD device such as a large-sized television, where brightness is more important than thickness. On the other hand, the edge type backlight unit, which typically has lighter weight and thinner profile as compared with the direct type, may be used for an LCD device such as a monitor for a notebook computer or a personal computer, where thickness is more important than brightness.
In the curved LCD device 10, a printed circuit board (PCB) connected to a front edge surface of the liquid crystal panel through a connecting member contacts a rear surface of the curved LCD device 10 by folding the connecting member. Since the curved LCD device 10 typically have different thicknesses depending on the type of the backlight unit such as the direct type or the edge type, the connecting member, through which the PCB can contact the rear surface of the curved LCD device 10, need to have different lengths, which may increase the cost of the connecting member and decrease fabrication efficiency.